“Reining in the radicals”

Deceit, distortions, diversions and digressions were found to be at play during the recently concluded deliberations of the All India Federation of Parsi Irani Anjumans of India ("Reining in the radicals,” Parsiana, October 21, 2010). Rightly have you pointed out that this was a deliberate ploy by a battered Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) to garner support for its many pending legal cases. All talk of condemning irreligious acts are inconsequential considering that a criminal writ petition has already been admitted in the Bombay High Court as detailed in "The Russian retort” (Parsiana, September 7, 2010).

The BPP and WAPIZ (World Alliance of Parsi Irani Zarthoshtis) were consulting with each other to clarify who Keki Daruwala was when Dadi Mistry, president of the Delhi Parsi Anjuman announced Daruwala’s recent appointment to the National Minorities Commission. These ignoramuses have to be told about the achievements that entitled Daruwala to be placed on the cover of Parsiana some months back. The next step will be to analyze his views on Parsi affairs. Is he orthodox? Is he married outside the community? Does he criticize dakhmenashini? If their findings turn out to be opposed to the aims of the BPP and WAPIZ a certain delegate known for his obsession with Parsi statues, Parsi sanitoria and other trivia will raise a question such as the one he is known to have raised about Anu Aga of Thermax who made a public statement that she is not a practicing Zoroastrian, so why was she on the cover of Parsiana?

Aga and Daruwala, both Padma Shris, have contributed much more to our community and the country than those who are provoked when they see Roshni Maloo, Goolrookh Gupta and Aga on the cover. At the Federation meeting, when the representative from Valsad lamented that while Gupta was on the cover their point of view was ignored, BPP chairman Dinshaw Mehta commiserated that "Parsiana is well known to be heretical. There is no way we can control them.” The truth is that the BPP and WAPIZ have resorted to untruths and indulged in acts of violence which are condemned by right-thinking Zoroastrians worldwide who have expressed strong views in Parsiana.

Fortunately the sensible among the hand-raising sycophants at the Federation meeting expressed a lukewarm response for Areez Khambatta’s attempt to pass a resolution condemning the seven candidates of the Adult Franchise for Progress who contested the BPP elections.

A fact worth noting is that though the BPP, its trustees and WAPIZ have been reviled so often, they have never dared to drag anyone to court on charges of defamation, nor do they care to rebut the allegations from Parsis fed up of their lies and non-constructive activities.

RASHID G. KHOSRAVI